Summer: This Sports Fan's Purgatory

Most people look forward to summer—pool parties, vacations...even songwriters like New Kids on the Block have capitalized on this muggy yet strangely enjoyable time of year.

So why on earth am I complaining...?

Well, summer is the time of year that is known as my "offseason"...no college football yet, March Madness is a fond memory, College World Series ended a few weeks back. And the NBA Playoffs left me feeling depressed knowing that there's another obnoxious Boston fan that will add to his/her list of sickening New England achievements.

I've been desperately trying to muster up some interest in MLB, but it's tougher than it seems. Being from Louisiana, we don't really have a local MLB team, so I have to adopt a team as my own. And how would one go about that?

Do I pick the team based on its GM, star players, star player's marital status (shout out to A-Rod), or location?

See, the problem I run into now is if you pick a team that's currently winning, you're automatically stereotyped as a bandwagoner. If you pick a team that's currently in a losing skid, then you're bombarded with questions such as, "Why on earth are you a fan of them?"

In which case you answer "I have no idea."

So, for now, I watch MLB from afar.

And then there's this whole arena football thing. It's a downright tease I tell ya. The whole premise of football is lost...there is no biting of the nails, hoping that your team could scrounge around for the yards needed to get that first down.

Arena football's playbook is seemingly filled with one play—Hail Mary. Sure there's variations on it, but I can't help but feel like I'm watching a last second play being run on every down. Maybe I just haven't watched it enough to see the good in it.

So I guess there's just no remedy for my summertime blues. I've read every preseason rankings analysis for college football, heck I've even checked out Lunardi's bracketology for the 2009 March Madness.

I've obsessed over the ABC/ESPN college football TV lineup...deciding which games will be the best to watch, and which ones I'll watch just for the sheer joy of watching football.

So, I guess for now, I'll just be content reading ESPN's riveting articles on why Kobayashi failed to bring his A-game.